Podcaster: Shane and Chris
Title: Objects to Observe in the August 2023 Night Sky
Organization: Actual Astronomy
Link : https://actualastronomy.podbean.com/
Description: The Actual Astronomy Podcast presents Objects to Observe in the August 2023 Night Sky. In this episode we’ll talk about watching the Planets Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn and our Moon in the evening sky as well as other sights to see in the June Night Sky. We go over some of the pairings of the Moon and Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars. We also take a look at some comets and double stars for telescope users.
Bio: Shane and Chris are amateur astronomers who enjoy teaching astronomy classes and performing outreach where they help the eyes of the public to telescope eyepieces.
Today’s sponsor: Big thanks to our Patreon supporters this month: Paul M. Sutter, Chris Nealen, Frank Frankovic, Frank Tippin, Jako Danar, Michael Freedman, Nik Whitehead, Rani Bush, Ron Diehl, Steven Emert, Brett Duane, Don Swartwout, Vladimir Bogdanov, Steven Kluth, Steve Nerlich, Phyllis Foster, Michael W, James K Wood, Katrina Ince, Cherry Wood.
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Transcript:
Intro: Objects to Observe in the August 2023 Night Sky on Episode 347 of the Actual Astronomy podcast. I’m Chris and joining me is Shane. We are amateur astronomers who love looking up at the night sky and this podcast is for everyone who enjoys going out under the stars.
First we have a Patreon Supporter to thank, this donation came in under Zoe and Leia. Thank you so much!
Did you get any observations in Shane or have any astronomy news in your life?
Mike, Peter, Rick and I went and did the Grasslands National Park event. We had clear skies then a small thunderstorm Friday while Saturday was very hot, +37C with thick cloud moving in at dusk but it cleared as the sky grew dark and was excellent. I could see stars down to 7.25.
Each night Parks Staff did a couple talks then I did one on what we were hoping to see. Then we showed people stars, galaxies, clusters and nebulae. Saturday night Mike and I looked at several globulars and M11 was a memorable sight but I was so tired I had to pack it in at 1:30am. Mike and Rick stayed up until it grew light.
Observatory Update…well last month I just had a hole and now I have a roll off roof …just without the roofing material….So I had to order some of the roofing parts from the US…they should be here in another week. So hopefully by the time this airs I have a functional roof. Then there’s the pier. We went with Wood….just because it’s easier to work with up there. BUt I needed an adapter to get the pier to couple with my telescope mount and that’s been a lot of costly parts….with another one on the way from Germany so there won’t be a scope mounted for another 2-3 weeks I’m afraid.
Shane can we put this image in the show notes as some listeners have asked to see it?
Now for the stuff we can see in the Night SKy for August 2023!
August 1st – Full Moon
August 2nd – Saturn 2-degrees above the Moon in VERY EARLY ie 1 am morning Sky
August 8th – Last quarter Moon
- Jupiter 3-degrees below Moon in early morning sky
August 10th – Mercury at greatest Elongation 27-degrees in Evening Sky – tough in very bright dusky sky
- 10 Hygiea at opposition m=9.6
- Hygiea is a major asteroid and possible dwarf planet located in the main asteroid belt. With a diameter of 434 kilometres and a mass estimated to be 3% of the total mass of the belt, it is the fourth-largest asteroid in the Solar System by both volume and mass.
- Annibale de Gasparis discovered Hygiea on 12 April 1849.
- Named after the Greek Goddess of Health
- On Aquarius Capricornus Border
August 13th & 14th – Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks in the early morning hours on these mornings
August 15th – Old Moon Challenge – You’ll see a sliver of a Moon in morning twilight.
August 16th – New Moon / Young Crescent Moon possible in evening twilight
August 18th – Mars 2-degrees below and right of Moon in evening twilight
August 24th – First Quarter – Lunar Straight Wall visible – Moon Occults ANtares this evening
What is an Occultation?
From here the Moon Passes in front of Antares in the Daylight sky just a few minutes before Sunset, around 8pm, however, the Moon is readily visible in the daytime around 1st quarter and with the Moon as a guide you might find Antares. We can easily see the reveal at about 9pm when it’s dark.
August 26th – 8 Flora at opposition m= 8.3
- discovered by J. R. Hind on 18 October 1847
- The name Flora was proposed by John Herschel, from Flora, the Latin goddess of flowers and gardens
- Morning Sky Eastern Taurus
August 27th – Saturn at opposition – rings are closing in a little…look like little ears when we viewed them in Grasslands.
August 30th – Full Moon and Saturn 2 degrees above and right of the Moon in evening sky
Comet E1 Atlas should be ~10th magnitude in August – In Cepheus
Comet V2 ZTF is getting closer to 10th Magnitude…heading south though hugging the Taurus Cetus Boarder and southern horizon for a few months.
Double Stars
Epsilon 1 Lyr – The Double Double
Gama 2 Del – 2 bright yellow stars of similar magnitude
Concluding Listener Message: Dear listeners, please subscribe and do us a favour and share the show with the other stargazers you know. You can always send us your show ideas, observations and questions to actualastronomy@gmail.com , thank you for listening.
End of podcast:
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